LESSONS IN PENMANSHIP.-XIX.

IN Copy-slips Nos. 67 and 68 the learner will see how the letters V, W, and b are joined to letters that precede and follow them, and in these he will also find examples of the method of bringing the final curve to the right, which terminates the letters that have just been named, in a downward direction, in order to carry it with greater facility into the line that forms the loop

No. 70. An inspection of these elementary strokes will show that the letter r is formed of the top-turn, with the addition of a fine hair-stroke brought upwards along the right-hand side of the thick down-stroke of the top-turn as far as the line cc, when it is carried out to the right, in a graceful curve, as far as the line a a. The pen is then brought downwards, and the letter is terminated by a curved or hooked stroke, resembling in a great measure a small bottom-turn. When the letter r is

of the letter e, which would be greatly curtailed in size and robbed of its proper proportions if the final curve of the v, b, or w that precedes it were carried to the right midway between the lines a a, cc, in the ordinary way, instead of being brought downwards as far as the line cc and then turned into the loop of the letter e.

The four remaining letters of the writing alphabet--namely, r, f, k, and z-each exhibit a peculiarity of form that is not to be found in any other letter. The elementary strokes which are combined to form the letter r are shown in Copy-slip No. 69, and the letter r itself in a complete form in Copy-slip

followed by e, the finishing turn, as in the case of the final curve terminating the letters V, W, and b, is made larger in order to carry it into the fine up-stroke commencing at cc, which forms the loop of the letter e.

An example of the letter r, in conjunction with letters preceding and following it, will be found in Copy-slip No. 71, in the word roller. The elementary looped stroke, turned at the top, which generally forms the upper part of the letter f. is given in Copy-slip No. 72. It resembles the loop-stroke, turned at the bottom, which enters into the composition of the letters j, g, and y, in a reversed position.

LESSONS IN GERMAN.-XVIII.

SECTION XXXIII.-PECULIARITIES IN VERBS, ETC. 1. THE infinitive of the active voice, in certain phrases, is, especially after the verb Scin, often employed in a passive signification, as :- -Er ist zu ehren, he is to be honoured. Er ist zu loben, he is to be praised. Laß ihn rufen, let him be called. This use of the infinitive prevails to some extent in English. Thus, we may translate literally the following examples :-Dieses Haus ist zu ver miethen, this house is to let. Dieser Knabe ist zu tateln, this boy is to blame.

2. Heißen signifies "to name, to call;" also, sometimes, "to command." In the sense of naming or calling, it is most generally used in a passive signification, as :- Wie heißen Sie? how are you called? or, what is your name? Ich heiße Rudolvh. I am called Ralph, or, my name is Ralph.

Brunswick. Durch, through, by means of. Einzig, single, only. Erflim'men, to climb. Erlernen, to learn. Gewinnen, to win, gain.

re-establish. Himmel, m. (the) heavens, sky. Jakob, m. James. Je deste, or je-je, thethe (Sect. XXX. 6).

Kunstwerk, n. work of Vermiethen, to let. art. Verzeihen, to pardon,

Mühe, f. pains, toil.

Glück'se'ligkeit, f. feli- Ohne, without.

city.

excuse.

Vollkommen, perfect. Werthvoll, valuable.

1. Wo schicken Sie Ihren Bedienten hin? 2. Er ist frank, er fans nirgends hingehen. 3. Schreiben Sie diesen Brief ab? 4. Ich habe ihn schon abgeschrieben. 5. Glauben Sie, daß der Buchbinder mir meine Bücher zurückschickt? 6. Hat Ihre Schwester die Blumen erhalten, die ich ihr gekauft habe? 7. Der Gärtner kommt morgen und wird sie mitbringen (Sect. XXVI. 2). 8. Wann geht Johann in die Schule? 9. Er geht morgen dahin, und der kleine Heinrich geht auch. 10. Wo find die neuen Tische, welche der Schreiner gemacht hat? 11. Haben Sie den schönen Wagen gesehen, in welchem Herr G. seine Frau und seine Kinder abholte? 12. Wann kommt Ihr Herr Bruder von Paris zurück? 13. Er ist schon seit (Sect. LVII.) fünf Tagen zurück. 14. Haben Sie Luft, einen Svaziergang zu machen? 15. Nein, ich habe schon einen Spaziergang um die Stadt gemacht.

EXERCISE 63.

RÉSUMÉ OF EXAMPLES.

Ein böses Gewis'sen ist nicht zu beru'higen.

Ein Gelehrter ist leichter zu über A learned man is easier to conzeu'gen, als ein Dummer. vince, than a stupid (one). Weisheit ist nicht wie eine Waare zu Wisdom is not to be bought kaufen. like wares. Die Rose heißt die Königin ber The rose is called the queen of Blumen. flowers. Der Löwe heißt der König der The lion is called the king of Thiere the beasts.

EXERCISE 60.

1. Diese großen, schönen Häuser find alle zu vermiethen. 2. Das eine Haus ist zu vermiethen, das andere zu verkaufen. 3. Es ist nicht zu glauben, daß er uns verlassen hat. 4. Dieses Buch ist bei Herrn Westermann in Braunschweig zu haben. 5. Kein einziger Stern war am ganzen Him mel zu sehen. 6. Wie ist dieses lange Wort auszusprechen? 7. Wo sind die besten Stiefel, Schuhe und Ueberschuhe zu finden? 8. Die besten, die ich gesehen habe, sind bei meinem alten Nachbar N. zu finden. 9. Das Feuer brannte so schnell, daß nichts im Schlosse zu retten war. 10. Nichts Werthvolles ist ohne Mühe zu gewinnen. 11. Dieser hohe Felsen ist nicht zu erklimmen. 12. Dieses alte Haus ist nicht mehr herzustellen. 13. Durch diesen Wald ist nicht zu kommen. 14. Er ist weter zu überzeugen. noch zu überreden. 15. Sein Betragen ist gar nicht zu verzeihen. 16. Wie heißt Ihr Freund? 17. Er heißt Jakob. 18. Wie heißt das auf Deutsch? 19. Es heißt eine Brille. 20. Ein Kunstwerk ist desto schöner, je vollkommener es ist, das heißt, je mehr Theile es hat, und je mehr alle diese Theile zum Zwecke beitragen.

EXERCISE 61.

1. The pronunciation of foreign words is only to be acquired through practice. 2. Nothing is to be learned without pains. 3. Perfect felicity is not to be found in this world. 4. You speak so quick, that you are not to be understood. 5. Health is not to be bought with money. 6. The peace of the town was not to be restored through severe orders. 7. How do you call these flowers? 8. They are called tulips. 9. The intelligent scholars are to be praised. 10. The difference between to buy and to sell must, by this time, be known to the scholar. 11. This book is to be had of the bookseller C. in London. 12. A valuable work of art cannot be made without much toil. 13. The rose and the violet are valued for their perfume, the talip for the brilliancy of its colours. 14. James is going to

SECTION XXXIV. PECULIARITIES IN VERBS, ETC.(continued).

Werden is used as an auxiliary in forming the future of all German verbs; and, in this use, is translated by our auxiliary "shall' 29 or "will." (§ 70. 6.)

1. As an independent verb werten signifies, "to become, to grow, to get," etc., as :-Er wird alt, he is growing old. Das Wetter wird kälter, the weather is growing colder. Es wird dunkel, it is getting dark. Der Rabe wird sehr alt, the raven becomes very old (lives or attains to a great age).

2. Werten with the dative often denotes possession, as :-Mir wird immer das Meinige, I always obtain my own (to me comes [becomes] always my own). Meinen armen Unterthanen muß das Ihrige werten, my poor subjects must have their own (property). CONJUGATION OF THE VERB werben, IN THE INDICATIVE

3. Often, when repeated or customary action is implied, the genitive of a noun is made to supply the place of an adverb, as:- -Des Morgens schläft, des Mittags liest, und res Abends spielt er, he sleeps in the morning, reads at noon, and plays in the evening. (§ 101.)

4. Als (as), after sobald, so viel, so wett, etc., is frequently omitted, but must be supplied in translating, as-So viel ich weiß, so far as I know. So gut ich kann, as well as I can. Sobald er fommt, as soon as he comes, etc. For other uses of als see Sect. LX.

9.

6. Wollen Sie dieses Jahr noch nach Amerika auswandern? 7. Ich habe es vor, aber ich glaube nicht, daß etwas daraus werden wird. 8. Frankreich wurde im Jahre eintausend achthundert acht und vierzig eine Republik. Gott sprach es werde, und es ward. 10. Ist Ihre neue Grammatik schon beendigt? 11. Noch nicht, aber ich hoffe, daß sie in längstens vierzehn Tagen fertig werden wird.

EXERCISE 65.

1. The present [Gegenwart] we know, the future [3ukunft] we know not of, and honour to that man who can quietly await [ruhig erwarten] the future. 2. Became your sister suddenly ill ? 3. No, she felt a violent headache eight days previously. 4. Do you intend to become a learned man? 5. Let us go home before it gets dark. 6. Most people become ill through neglect [durch Vernachlässigung].

THE HISTORY OF ART.
V.-GREEK ART.

WHEN we pass from the sculpture and painting of Egypt and Assyria to the sculpture and painting of Greece, we pass at a single bound from the infancy of art to its prime. No after-age has surpassed the great age of Athenian culture, at least in the general character of its artistic work. It is the peculiar glory of Greece to have originated that indescribable mixture of freedom and fidelity which we all recognise as fine art. Other countries have slowly struggled up to the Greek level, through the influence of Greek models, but no other country has developed for itself any such free and natural artistic style as that of Greece. All modern sculpture, all modern painting, nay, even all modern architecture and industrial art, is directly or indirectly derived from Greek originals. Greece has moulded and guided the whole subsequent artistic development of the entire world.

If we compare the accompanying cut of the Laocoon, a famous work of the later Greek period, with the Egyptian Osiris, in Part III., or the Assyrian Winged Bull, in Part IV., we shall see at once wherein the distinctive Greek advance consisted. The limbs of the Osiris are stiff and motionless; the legs are planted close together in a symmetrical attitude; the face is totally devoid of expression or emotion, suppressed or active. The whole figure, in fact, is dead and wooden; it has no life or beauty in any way; it lacks just the one quality which in our modern sense would make it into a work of art. This one quality the Greeks discovered and applied. They took the lifeless Assyrian and Egyptian models; they breathed vigour into their dead limbs, and they threw expression into their wooden features. In the Laocoon group we see two serpents attacking and strangling a father and his two sons-the story may be read by those who understand Latin, in the second book of Virgil's "Eneid"-and the group shows in their fullest form the differences which mark off Greek art from all earlier endeavours in the same direction. Other pieces of sculpture may better represent the feelings of Greek plastic handicraft in its purest classical age, but none other so well represents the exact peculiarities which distinguish the Greek artist from the mere stone-carver of Egypt or Assyria.

The limbs of the Laocoon are anatomically and exactly human limbs, really imitated from nature in minute detail, not merely rudely suggested like those of their earlier prototypes. Every muscle is correctly given, and the whole figure is a true human figure, modelled with skill and knowledge, in the true proportions throughout. Further, the limbs are something more than mere anatomically correct human limbs; they are the limbs of a man engaged in a life and death struggle with a terrible assailant. The knees and thighs writhe with effort; the hands are clenched in agony and terror; the arms strain their muscles and sinews with fruitless endeavour. This, again, is much; but again it is not all. The head and face are no stony set of conventional features, they are the head and face of a strong man in a hopeless death-agony. They tell us a story; they speak to us in quite other tones from those of the stiff and straight Egyptian kings or gods. Of these last we can only say that they are statues of a figure seated: of the Greek sculptures we can say that they represent such and such an action, that they express such and such a feeling, that they call forth in us such and such a human emotion. Assyrian and

*

Egyptian art is now a simple matter of antiquarian interest: Greek art is still a matter of artistic interest. The one speaks to the historic sense alone, the other speaks to the heart and to the sense of beauty.

The Greeks did not reach this high artistic level at a single bound. As elsewhere, civilisation by the shores of the Archipelago arose by a slow process of development. The people who lived on either side of the Egæan derived their earliest lessons in culture from the Assyrians and Phoenicians who dwelt a little to the south and east of them. Their first attempts at imitating their teachers were even more rude and wooden than the originals themselves. But the peculiar position of Greece made it

and,

ment. As in the sculptures, however, the faces and limbs are in graceful and natural attitudes, with speaking expression, and revealing their own story at once in their action and emotion. The colours are usually very bright and lively, aiming rather at decorative effect than at fidelity to nature. Light and shade are managed with great skill; perspective is fully understood, as applied to figures in near distance and to living objects; but landscape is rarely attempted, and only as an accessory; while distant perspective is ill and clumsily managed. The defects. the Greeks in this department of art were probably due to the fact that it was comparatively little practised by them, that it was largely influenced by artistic ideas derived from their constant attention to sculpture, and that it thus attempted rather such effects as are proper to statuary than such effects as can best be obtained by painting itself.

In plastic art, however, the Greeks are absolutely pre-eminent. No modern nation has risen at all to the same high level. Sculpture in Greece was an art of every-day life, for statues of the gods were required by every city, by every temple, by every trade, nay, even by every family. Tombs were covered with bas-reliefs; the friezes and metopes of every public building were similarly enriched with groups of sculpture. The work of the stone-cutter merged into that of the sculptor; and at Athens alone the number of marble figures which existed must have been far greater than the whole number in any three

modern European capitals, save, perhaps, Rome alone. The ease with which marble can be cut, the constant demand for works of sculpture, and the general high artistic taste of the Greek communities, conspired to make such works universal.

The common observation of the human figure in the public games, and the growth of a critical spirit in the beholders, must have done much to encourage increasing fidelity to nature. At first all statues were either images of the gods or bas-reliefs for tombs; but as time went on, as wealth accumulated from trade, and as artistic feeling was quickened by the great sculptors who carved the decorations of the Parthenon and the Olympian Zeus, Greek gentlemen began to take a personal interest in statuary, and to purchase purely ornamental works, such as the well-known Niobe or Narcissus, the Laocoon and the Quoit-thrower. An immense number of Greek sculptures of all ages still remain to us, and several fine examples are to be found in the British Museum. But it is the special glory of Greek sculpture that it was the first form of art in which the higher artistic qualities-grace, freedom, beauty, and feelingwere ever displayed. Everything before it was mere soulless handicraft. All subsequent art has sprung from this original root. Roman architecture, Roman sculpture, and Roman painting were mainly Greek by descent, and carried on by Greeks. The modern Italian schools trace themselves back to Roman or Byzantine sources; and the Renaissance, or great artistic movement, at the end of the middle ages, was at first simply a return to antique Greek and Roman models from the wooden medievalism, or the stiff naturalising endeavours of the early Italian revival. Thus the whole of high art, as we now understand it, is the direct offspring of the old Athenian sculptors, worked up again in divergent lines by later artists.

whole building rises more loftily toward the sky, and breathes more freely than the low, squat, and clumsy piles of Egyptian architecture. Above all, the ornamentation consists mainly of statuary, not carved quaintly over the whole face of every part, but grouped in the most effective and most structurally important portions of the entire work. It is, perhaps, this limitation of decorative detail to the main constructive points of a building or an industrial object which chiefly marks off Greek ornamental art from the very painstaking but ineffective schools of earlier or less developed races.

Of Greek painting we have but few remains; yet those remains-mostly of an inferior sort, such as vase designs and late wall frescoes-are enough to show us that the artists had reached a very high point in the representation of the human form. Their pictures are mostly statuesque, consisting of single figures or slightly-composed groups, generally on mythological subjects, and rather decorative than strictly imitative in treat

LESSONS IN BOTANY.-X.

SECTION XX.-FURTHER CLASSIFICATION OF

VEGETABLES.

Pentandria-five stamens. 6. Hexandria-six stamens. 7. Heptandria-seven stamens. 8. Octandria-eight stamens. 9. Enneandria-nine stamens. 10. Decandria-ten stamens. 11. Dodecandria--eleven to nineteen stamens. 12. Icosandria

tions, and shall point out in what respects certain classifications are better than others.

Of all the different schemes of classification which have ever been proposed or carried into execution, that of the celebrated Swede, Linné or Linnæus, undoubtedly attained to the greatest popularity. Indeed, so firm is the hold which it took of popular appreciation that no inconsiderable number of those who even now study Botany fancy they have nothing more to learn than the number of pistils and stamens which are contained in different flowers, totally unconscious of all natural alliances. Suppose that some eccentric ethnologist should adopt the grotesque idea of classifying human races according to the number of wives the individuals of each race were in the habit of marrying. Suppose that in reference to this master-idea the ethnologist should arrive at the conclusion that inasmuch as Mussulman Turks, and Mussulman negroes, and Mussulman Kalmucs, and Malays, all marry a great many wives, that for this reason Turks, and negroes, and Kalmucs, and Malays, must all belong to the same race of men. Would not such a classification awaken a smile at its grotesque whimsicality? and would it not be considered an eminently false classification, not to say absurd?

Yet this is almost a parallel arrangement to that of Linnæus, who effected his celebrated artificial division of plants according to the number and position of the male and female parts (stamens and pistils) of flowers.

ing stamens exclusively, on different plants. 23. Polygamia - flowers bearing stamens exclusively, or pistils exclusively, or hermaphrodite, on the same or on different plants. 24. Cryptogamia.

In the annexed illustration, a representation is given of the flesby rhizome, leaves, and flower of the Iris florentina, or White Iris, a beautiful species of the family Iridacea, and a native of Southern Europe. It flowers in May. According to the division adopted by Linnæus, this plant belongs to the first order Monogynia (having one pistil), of the third class Triandria (having three stamens).

From an inspection of this arrangement, we observe that up to the eleventh class the number of stamens alone furnishes the distinctive sign, after which other circumstances are taken cogni sance of. These circumstances are sufficiently indicated in the list of classes given above; but it is desirable to present the reader with the derivation of the names. It will be remembered that the stamens are the male organs of the flower, and the names given to the first eleven classes are com pounded of the Greek words for the numerals, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and twelve, and the Greek noun avnp (an'-eer), genitive aropos (an'-dros). a man. Icosandria is formed of the same Greek noun, and Eikoo (ei-ko-si), the Greek for twenty: polyandria from the same Greek noun, ανηρ, and the adjective TOXUS (pol-use), much or many. The term didynamia means twopowered, from the Greek δυο (du-o), two, and duvauis (du-namis), power; the reason why the term is applied will be seen by referring to the explanation given above. Monadelphia means one brotherhood, from the Greek povos (mon'-os), one, and adeλpos (a-del'-phos), brother, because all the stamens are connected together. Syngenesia is another term signifying a growing together, from the Greek ovv (sune), together, and yivouai (gi'-no-mi, the g hard), I grow. Gynandria is derived from the Greek yuvn (gu'-ne, g hard), woman, and armp, genitive avopos, a man, because the pistils and stamens are attached. Monacia signifies one-housed, from the Greek μovos, and oixos (oi-kos), house, for a reason which will be evident. Polygamia is derived from the Greek πολυς, many, γαμος (gam'-os), marriage; the meaning of which term will also be evident by a simple inspection of the list of classes. In order that the student may become practically acquainted with the respective peculiarities of these classes, we shall now mention in

Nevertheless, the artificial classification of Linnæus has acquired a celebrity so great, and is so interwoven with popular botanical ideas, that it cannot be dismissed with the casual notice we have already afforded it. Let us, therefore, proceed to examine the general principles on which it is based.

In the first place, Linnæus divided plants into cryptogamic and flowering, as we have done. The department of cryptogamic botany was, however, very imperfectly known to Linnæus; it was to the classification of flowering plants that his chief efforts were directed, and it is his mode of effecting this that we have to examine. Linnæus arranged all flowering plants under twenty-three classes, founded on the number and arrangement of the male parts (stamens) of the flower.

The names of his twenty-four classes, including cryptogamic plants as the twenty-fourth, are as follows:

1. Monandria-one stamen. 2. Diandria-two stamens. 3. Triandria-three stamens. 4. Tetrandria-four stamens. 5. 20-N.E.

one,